Neverland
by youllstartariotbarbarella
Summary: "You aren't Eli," Rachel hissed losing her grip on her facade, "and I'm not going to sit here and talk to someone I don't even know. I hate you like this." OC but no romance as of now, completely AU
1. Chapter 1

The glass-filtered sunlight cast distorted shadows of two figures across the library floor. They looked like oblong and abysmal figures but the objects were far from that in fact the two were quite comfortable, one sitting on the windowsill curved in the alcove and the other seated in a cushioned chain near the window. There was a companionable silence between the two as each read their own volumes.

"I spoke to her today," said the one seated at the table, "well actually she sorta of just yelled at me at the Dot."

The other figure did not reply. She instead flipped the page in her book, which was in fact a textbook about physics of all things. At her silence the boy, Eli, looked at his companion. His face was expressionless, it was a bland expanse nothing like the witty, trickster he had been before the whole debacle with Clare and Morty.

"She was mad at me," he continued to explain, "because I can't feel."

Still no reply from the other person.

"But I can't feel you know?" he said, "It's the damn pills."

At that statement the young girl, Rachel, let out an irritated sigh. She didn't take her eyes away from the science babble before her though she did reach forward to smooth out her khaki uniform skirt. Her perfect, crinkle free polo shirt rippled with the movement. It was a deep maroon.

"It amazes me," she said in a bored drawl, "that you somehow find fault and place blame on something that is made to help you, though studies and doctors suggest that you also need a supportive environment and positive reinforcement. Are you not getting that? Is that why you are whining?"

Her tone was detached and nearly robotic. This was the way Rachel was, however, and it did not faze Eli to hear speak in such a way it may have been the drugs though because nothing bothered Eli much these days.

"Also I told you not to speak to me," she said this reaching forward to tug on her black opaque leggings, "not until you're normal again. You bore me like this."

It was unnatural for a girl as young as fifteen to be so cruel and apathetic as Rachel but in truth the girl just had a hard time conveying her thoughts. It was why she spent all her time in a public library instead of with her peers.

"Right," Eli said turning back to the book he was reading which was still on turned to the title page, "my bad."

Another irritated sigh escaped the young girl's lips.

"Is that it?" she said raising her voice ever so slightly, "no witty remark, or biting comment?"

She almost sounded upset but in truth she was just uncomfortable. She didn't like this version of the boy; he was numb and porcelain-like. He was nothing like the sarcastic, brash young man she had first met two months ago. He was a stranger and if there was anything Rachel feared it was a stranger.

"You aren't Eli," Rachel hissed losing her grip, "and I'm not going to sit here and talk to someone I don't even know. I _hate_ you like this."

She slammed her book shut and hopped down from her place on the windowsill and placed the book onto a table nearby. Then without a word of farewell she made a hasty exit from the section and then from the library all together. She didn't stop until she got all the way to the bus stop two blocks away. Without anything else to do she sat down on the bench and crossed her arms and then her legs. Then out of frustration and utter self-pity she began to cry. You see as collected and adult as Rachel pretended to be, she was still just a fifteen year-old girl who had lost the only person she had considered to be a friend but what was worst of all was that it was her fault.

Two Months Earlier

Eli Goldsworthy wandered into the public library with a, for lack of a better term, big stupid grin on his face. His head was full of that girl, that girl with the pretty eyes, Clare. His lopsided grin grew even bigger as he thought about how she pressed her body against him laughing in mock anger. Her cheeks were flushed and eyes twinkling, my oh my Clare Edwards was quite the beauty indeed.

He nodded in greeting to the librarian who was busy stacking books on to selves. She gave him a strange look and then gathered the rest of the books she had to her chest and scurried away with her eyes glued to the floor. Eli was of course unfazed by this he was flying high.

"You freaked Doris out," said someone from behind him.

Eli turned around and was surprised to find there was a girl sitting on the windowsill. She was curled up into the rectangle impression in the wall with a large book in her lap.

"It's probably best if you leave," she continued her eyes on the pages of her book, "if Doris doesn't like you this place can be quite uncomfortable."

"Is that right?" he replied hopping up to sit on a table that sat between the selves, "and what if I like this place, what if in the small about of time that I've spent here I've grow rather attached to this place? What if I don't want to leave? What should I do then?"

She didn't answer right away. Instead she looked at him with intense eyes were brown and almond shaped. Her face seemed perfectly symmetrical, her long straight brown hair was pulled behind her ears away from her with flat hair clips the kind that snap close when you press down the edges.

"You should still leave," she said after looking Eli over, "come back tomorrow or some other time and be less conspicuous. Doris is very 'out of sight, out of mind' with grudges."

Her answer was precise, her tone measured. Her face remained impassive the whole time and when she was finished answering him she promptly returned to ignoring him. Eli was mildly amused by the insensitive reply. It was obvious she knew the librarian well, well enough to know how she held grudges. His face was almost split in two. Today was just so damn entertaining.

Rachel, on her part, had no idea why she had commented at all. As a basic rule, Rachel hated people and people, save Doris bless her heart, hated Rachel. They avoided her at all cost, calling her things like 'creepy' or 'evil bitch' or even 'creepy evil bitch' and Rachel completely understood why. She never really spoke to anyone and when she did, she was often abrupt and indifferent.

"Thank you for the advice but I think I'll stay for a bit longer," Eli said smiling that infamous crooked smile of his.

"It's of no consequence to me whether you stay or don't," mumbled Rachel in response.

And the pair was plunged into a silence with Goldsworthy swinging his legs back and forth still thinking about his earlier encounter with Clare. Rachel had her nose in her book, which was on the History of Ancient Egypt. She had a test coming up on that subject in a week so she needed to study.

"Hey, kid," Eli said suddenly nearly giddy, "wanna hear a secret?"

He was so happy with the whole Clare thing he felt like he just had to tell _someone_. Unfortunately for him he tried to tell it to Rachel.

"No," replied Rachel quickly and truthfully.

Rachel didn't like hearing other people's secrets. Secrets were dirty, terrible things that only destroyed the lives of everyone in the immediate facility. They were land mines and booby traps and Rachel really couldn't be bothered by secrets.

At her reply Eli laughed outright. She was so _weird_. She looked like she barely 13 especially in the get up she was wearing. Her thin legs were completely covered by black leggings that were free of any rip or wrinkle. Over those she wore a pleated khaki skirt paired with a maroon polo shirt that had a gold emblem stitched over the breast pocket. All of which were appropriate for a high school student but on her they just looked too big, too perfect, too _clean_. Eli felt like she should be in dirt covered overalls and playing on jungle gyms or jumping off of swings.

It was like she was a little kid playing pretend. In her pressed skirt and tightly laced oxfords she looked like she was playing "Grown Up" and it sorta irked Eli to see someone try so hard.

"You're really funny," he said, "you know that?"

"And you're distracting," she said her voice devoid of any tone or emotion, "did you know that?"

And that sent him into another fit. Maybe it was just because of his good mood, or maybe it was the way Rachel couldn't take her eyes off of that smile but both, Rachel and Eli were suddenly aware that something was starting. For Eli it was the beginning of a love affair that would eventually tear him to pieces and for Rachel it was the beginning of the end of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're here," said Eli a look of confusion on his face, "again."

"I think that I should be making that statement," Rachel replied impassive as always from her perch on the windowsill.

He wasn't expecting this. He checked his watch and frowned then made a comical almost exaggerated expression of approval then his facial expression returned to confused. How was it that she was always in the library?

"It's 11:20," Eli said resting his elbow on his knee and then his head on his knuckles, "on a _Thursday_! How are you here?"

Rachel then took a break from her reading; today it was Chemistry, to look at her watch. It was in fact 11:20. She was only mildly impressed but she didn't voice her thoughts because Rachel knew he was on to something. She shouldn't be in a public library at 11:20 pm on a Thursday. She should be in an expensive, prissy private school where the children were more like piranha than human beings. She should be learning along side her peers, making friends, laughing, gossiping but she wasn't. She was there.

"You've only come here three times," Rachel pointed out though she later wished she hadn't.

A few days ago he decided to visit the library again on the off chance that he might run into the strange girl again. And although it was what he was hoping for he was surprised to find the young girl in the very same place he had first encountered her. It was like she had never even left.

"Aha!" he said that oh so debonair smile of his creeping across his face, "you see the only way you would even know that is if you were here _every_ day _all_ the time."

And for some reason she found that crooked smirk of his just the slightest bit endearing. In fact everything about him was endearing. Although she didn't particularly like his floppy black hair, in fact it irritated her a little he looked so very casual, so comfortable in a way that the spick and span upperclassmen at her school with their perfectly combed hair and too-white teeth could never be. She thought to herself how inconvenient it must get sometimes with those black locks falling in his eyes all the time. She would have liked to pull it back for him and at that idea Rachel decided that it was best to cut that train of thought off before it went down a strange track.

"I don't see what your point is," she said turning her attention back to her book.

Rachel tried to tell herself that she wanted him to leave so she could study in peace but if she was being completely honest she enjoyed it those three other times he had shown up. She'd never admit it though.

"My point is," he said hopping off the table to pace back and forth in a very professional fashion, "don't you go to school? I mean you must because you are wearing a uniform."

He made a couple of hand gestures as she pleaded his case but they were lost on Rachel. He kept pacing rubbing his chin in thought. This kid was a mystery to Eli, but not really. He knew why she was here, probably for the same reason he was here.

"If you are implying that I am skipping class then you are correct," Rachel said finally admitting to her crime.

"And there you have it members of the jury," Eli exclaimed, "I think that's all the proof you need."

Eli then proceeded to bow to his adoring fans. He then made a grandiose hand gesture to Rachel as though to direct the praise of his imaginary audience towards her. He clapped for her then raised his hands, motioning to the invisible spectators to quite themselves.

"I'm glad you've come to terms with your problem," he said moving to place his arms besides her on the windowsill, "acceptance is the first step towards recovery, young lady."

He raised his hand to rest in chin on his palm so that he could stare up at her and charm her pants off. Eli looked so damn pleased with himself that Rachel couldn't help but look at him because she felt just a little pleased as well. No, not pleased really just _amused_. Not happy at all. Happiness is for children.

"Am I to assume that you are also skipping class?" Rachel said monotonous as always.

"Ah you've caught me," Eli said still smiling, "guilty as charged."

"If so," Rachel continued, "then what are you doing in a library. Surely you haven't skipped class just to read books in a library."

"Isn't that what you're doing?" he replied not missing a beat.

"I hate people," Rachel said glancing at her textbook she only had a page left to study, "I figured the best way to avoid them would be to go to the library. Apparently I was incorrect in my assumption."

Eli laughed at her strange way of speaking, "Jeeze do you really just talk like that?"

"Apparently," Rachel replied dry as always.

"And you know what?" Eli said, "That's great, a bit creepy but you know still kinda cool."

His statement confused Rachel. She'd never considered herself "kinda cool" though on occasion she has been called creepy. It surprised her how nice it felt to be thought of as "kinda cool". She felt something like joy bubble up in the center of her chest. How wonderful it was just to be _acknowledged_ by another human being. Then she checked her watch. It was time to leave.

"I'm leaving," she said simply giving him no explanation because honestly they weren't that close.

Why would he even care?

"Okay," Eli said his smile dimming.

He backed away from the windowsill giving her space to get down.

Rachel had to admit that she was sad to be leaving but the Chemistry test she had been studying for was about to start in exactly 25 minutes and her school was a 15-minute walk away. It was only practical to leave a minimum of ten minutes of leeway and Rachel was nothing if not practical. But before she could get too far away Eli called out to her.

"Thanks for playing along this time," he said, "I enjoyed it, I'm Eli by the way."

Rachel paused and looked at him. She memorized his face, his hair, his figure and stacked all of that together in her mind and labeled that pile of imagery "Eli". She found that she liked that name.

"Okay," she said then proceeded to exit the library.

"Hey but what-" he said but was cut off by a loud 'shush!' from Doris who had somehow materialized besides him carrying about seven large volumes and wearing a look of utter displeasure.

"Sorry," he said in a lowered voice and seemingly satisfied with the apology the librarian left him to continue her stacking.

"What a funny kid," Eli mumbled under his breath as he stared after her.

Eli smiled to himself. Her actions could be considered rude but he found that it was just strange. And Eli liked strange. Looking around the small dusty library he realized that he actually didn't have a reason to be there. The volumes mainly consisted of college and high school textbooks and informational guides. So he left as well because really only Clare would skip class to do work.

He smiled at the thought of his quirky girl, and all thoughts of Rachel were gone when he felt his cell phone vibrate and saw Clare's name on the screen.


End file.
